If you do systems administration work of any kind, you have to deal with the growing complexity of your environment and increasing demands on your time. Automating System Administration with Perl, Second Edition, not only offers you the right tools for your job, but also suggests the best way to approach specific problems and to securely automate recurring tasks.

Updated and expanded to cover the latest operating systems, technologies, and Perl modules, this edition of the "Otter Book" will help you:

Manage user accounts

Monitor filesystems and processes

Work with configuration files in important formats such as XML and YAML

Administer databases, including MySQL, MS-SQL, and Oracle with DBI

Work with directory services like LDAP and Active Directory

Script email protocols and spam control

Effectively create, handle, and analyze log files

Administer network name and configuration services, including NIS, DNS and DHCP

Maintain, monitor, and map network services, using technologies and tools such as SNMP, nmap, libpcap, GraphViz and RRDtool

Improve filesystem, process, and network security

This edition includes additional appendixes to get you up to speed on technologies such as XML/XPath, LDAP, SNMP, and SQL. With this book in hand and Perl in your toolbox, you can do more with less -- fewer resources, less effort, and far less hassle.

David N. Blank-Edelman

David N. Blank-Edelman is the Director of Technology at the Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science. He has spent the last 25 years as a system/network administrator in large multi- platform environments, including Brandeis University, Cambridge Technology Group, and the MIT Media Laboratory. He was also the program chair of the LISA 2005 conference and one of the LISA 2006 Invited Talks co-chairs.

The animal on the cover of Automating System Administration with Perl, Second Edition, is a sea otter. North American sea otters make their homes along the Pacific coast, near the kelp beds containing the shellfish that make up the majority of their diet. Sea otters can be found in great numbers in Alaska and on beaches as far south as California.

Sea otters are agile, intelligent mammals and are known to make ingenious use of tools. Floating on their backs, they hold a shellfish such as a mussel or abalone on their bellies and use a rock to break the shell.

Intensely social, sea otters gather to float in groups called rafts. They are excellent swimmers, propelling themselves swiftly through the water with their flipper-like, webbed back paws. Their thick fur provides them with efficient insulation in the water. At times, their existence has been threatened as they have been mercilessly hunted to near extinction for their fur.

The cover image is an original illustration created by Lorrie LeJeune. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSansMonoCondensed.